Western Cape ramps up COVID-19 vaccination

The Western Cape is ramping up its COVID-19 vaccination rollout programme with two new mass sites.

The CTICC mass site, dubbed the ‘Vaccination Centre of Hope, opened its doors on 7 July 2021.

It is established as part of a partnership between the Western Cape Government, City of Cape Town and Discovery Health.

The provincial government intends for the site to administer 750 000 vaccinations over the next six months.

“All eligible residents whether they have a medical aid or not will be assisted at this site. No person will be left behind because every life matters,” said Premier Alan Winde.

The ‘Vaccination Centre of Hope’ will be one of the biggest vaccination sites in the country with 50 operational vaccination stations.

This will mean that more than 4000 people can be vaccinated per day when it reaches its full operational capacity.

Vaccinations will be free of charge for everyone visiting the site.

Athlone drive-through site

The CTICC site will also be supplemented by a new drive-through and walk-through mass vaccination site at the Athlone Stadium.

The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government are hoping this walk-in facility and the drive through to be operational in August.

“I am therefore extremely excited that we will be opening a mass vaccination site in Athlone, bringing vaccines close to residents across the Metro. Like we have shown with the CTICC Vaccination Centre of Hope and now with the Athlone Stadium mass site, we are committed to pursuing partnerships that will bring services closer to people,” said Winde.

Cape Town Executive Mayor Dan Plato said the five-line drive through facility has been prepared in a manner that will minimise long queues as far as possible.

It will also allow for “parents to keep their young children in the car, while they are vaccinated”, Plato said.

The CTICC and the Athlone Stadium site (once operational) are among 200 active vaccination sites across the Western Cape.

The provincial sites have altogether administered over 600 000 vaccines since start of the roll out programmed.

This week alone, the provincial health department is targeting 120 000 vaccinations.

National Vaccination programme

Nationally, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, 4.2 million people in the country have received a vaccine dose.

A million of these were done in the second week of July.

“The pace of vaccination has more than doubled in the last month, and will continue to increase. Presently, nearly 190,000 people are on average being vaccinated each weekday,” President Ramaphosa said in his recent address.

The country is currently vaccinating persons aged 50 and above.
Parallel to that, programmes are underway to vaccinate essential workers, including educators, the police and the defence force.

The government will start vaccinating those over the age of 35 from August.

Everyone over the age of 50 is currently eligible to register for their COVID-19 vaccine on EVDS, and is urged to do so by using any of the following steps:

• Visit http://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za/
• WhatsApp the word REGISTER to 0600 123456
• Dial 134832*ID number# if you don’t have internet access

FOR MORE INFORMATION: